Scholar/Mentor Program

Program Description

The scholar/mentor program assists junior faculty in developing scholarly writing and publication skills by working with peers and mentors during the summer. Individuals may work alone or in teams with a tenured-faculty research mentor to examine writing habits, critique their own and the scholarly work of other faculty, and submit an article for publication.

Program Goals

The program is designed such that, upon completion, participants will have:

developed collegial relationships with other scholars committed to publication;

increased confidence in their ability to write and publish original research; and

submitted an article for publication.

Program Designs

The design of the program is modeled after similar initiatives at other universities. Each team will convene six times (one-hour meetings arranged approximately every two weeks) during summer term. Junior faculty committing to participation in the program will:

identify a writing project that, by the end of summer, will reach a point where it will be submitted for publication;

articulate specific writing goals and commit to writing five times a week for 20-40 minutes daily (keeping a log of writing activity);

attend and participate in hour-long team meetings six times during the summer to discuss their writing, writing of others, or topical readings;

submit his/her article for publication; and

complete a program evaluation.

Beyond the meetings, it is anticipated that participants will be required to commit approximately 3-5 hours every two weeks to the program during the summer. Individuals who anticipate being unavailable for four weeks or more during the summer, are asked not to apply to the program. Those with summer teaching assignments are still encouraged to apply.

For participating in the program, each junior faculty participant will receive a $100 line of faculty development credit, that can be used to defray costs associated with travel, books, software, etc.

Application

Interested individuals must submit a two-three page application that contains the following information:

Goals for Participation — what are, at least, three outcomes that the participant desires to derive from participation (e.g., What do you want to learn more about? What do you want to do better?, etc.);

Writing Project — describe the history and current status of the writing project/manuscript (e.g., Has it been presented at a conference or previously submitted? If so, what does reviewer feedback suggest?) and indicate a source (i.e., journal) targeted for submission; and

Addendum — attach a current draft of the writing project/manuscript.

Applications are due in April and will be reviewed by a panel of faculty representing the LEARN Center and team mentors for the program. Selection will be based on quality of the applications and other considerations (e.g., representation from various departments). Final selections will be made and applicants notified in May.

"I think the [Scholar/Mentor Program] experience has done more for me than any other professional development experience I've had in my university teaching career of 15 years.... Reading the work of others and getting to talk over ideas with an experienced person—both gave me confidence." -- Junior Faculty Member, College of Education